Mark Striegl ~ A Beautiful Future Awaits

Mark Striegl: “A win over Sarmiento definitely puts me up there…”

(article by the Coffee Boy)

         Come November 17^th, Mark Striegl has a big fight in front of him with title implications behind it, but it’s an uphill battle against the MMA veteran and current PXC Lightweight Champion Harris Sarmiento.

         “A win over Sarmiento definitely puts me in line up there for a title shot…I think,” Striegl says. He also adds that he hopes a win over Sarmiento “…will get me an Andok's sponsorship.” (For those of you lost, much like I was, Andok's is a chain of roasted chicken restaurants in the Philippines).

         Currently undefeated, his record stands at 11 – 0, nine coming by way of submission. He has beaten the likes of Alcer Lozada, Robert Wusstig, and current ONE FC Korean superstar Bae Young Kwon. Finally signing down exclusively with competitive MMA promotion PXC, a lot of talk was that he’d be close to a title shot.

         “…a belt would certainly be nice. Will Chope (Team Buffet teammate) and I were kind of racing to see who would get to a belt first,” Striegl muses, “…guess I lost that one.”

         One wonders which division he’d be competing at competitively for a championship, and a lot of people believe that a drop to the bantamweight division would be best for him. “Dropping to 135 makes some sense, but I haven’t lost at 145,” he says, “…and the idea of dieting and cutting weight isn’t very pleasant.”

         In any case, before he even considers a drop to 135 lbs or a title shot, he has Harris Sarmiento standing in front of him in a couple weeks and that task is something that could make or break this Fil-Am fighter. In preparation for this fight, he has brought in AJ “Pyro” Lias to join him in Baguio where he trains with Fight Corps MMA.

        

When asked about his training regiment and game-plan, he seemed iffy about giving away too many details. “I typically wake up at 4 am to run… After that I eat breakfast and proceed to chase horses and livestock. Sometimes chickens…like Rocky,” he laughs. “Just kidding…you know I can’t tell you all my ninja secret training methods.

“We have a solid team at Fight Corps MMA and I will be well-prepared for Harris.”

It was just a few short years ago that Mark “Mugen” Striegl got into mixed martial arts. He explained that it was his background in wrestling that made him interested in combat sports. “I got into MMA because I grew up watching PRIDE FC in Japan and thought they were amazing.

“Coming from a wrestling background, I was always interested in combat sports and after high school I had to give MMA a try.”

When asked who his biggest inspiration was in MMA, he had to be all cheesy and said “My family and friends.” (enter waterworks)

“I look up to Fedor and Genki Sudo a lot,” after finally caving in, “Fedor did the unheard of in Pride, and Genki Sudo was the ultimate showman. He was fun to watch, had a tricky style of fighting, and had epic entrances.”

Mark “Mugen” Striegl faces Harris Sarmiento on the 17^th of November at PXC 34, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in the Philippines. 

MMA Action in Sabah

MMA Action from Malaysian Borneo

It's very easy to think that all the MMA in Malaysia is centered around Kuala Lumpur, the majority of MMA gyms are there, the majority of events are there and of course the majority of the fighters are there. But.....

That's changing,  of course, there is the long established Ultimate MMA in Johor and the fast growing Ultimate Beatdown events.

Penang is on the map with gyms and more to come but what of that other part of Malaysia, Malaysian Borneo?

Well, It's got it's own MMA scene it's small but it's strong and it's respected.

For instance: AJ Lias of Borneo Tribal Squad is so well respected as a trainer that he regularly goes over to the Philippines to help train one of Asia's hottest up and coming prospects the undefeated Mark Striegl (10-0)

The boys from Borneo have occasionally sent fighters out to fight in events, AJ Lias himself has fought at both DARE and ONE FC.

But now we have news of Sabah's First MMA Event.

It was held at Kinabalu Fighters Martial Art & Fitness Centre

Our Thanks to Julian Lee for all the details: 

There were 14 bouts (3 MMA, 2 Boxing & 9 Muaythai).

1st Bout: Maxwell (Kinabalu Fighters) (black shirt) Vs David (Monarch MMA)  

Maxwell has been  doing kickboxing for 1 year & has done a few BJJ/MMA seminar classes with coaches brought in. 

David is a considered to have better BJJ experience.

Round 1:



Round 2:

The 2nd Bout:  Hugo Vs Norman  (AllFit Gym) (Black Shorts) 

Hugo is a student that recently returned from Russia & has trained a little bit of Sambo.
Norman is a Sabah Judoka 

Round 1:



Round 2:



Round 3:





The 3rd Bout is Neil (BJJ Borneo Academy) vs Zaki (wearing black shirt)

Neil is a Blue Belt BJJ holder while Zaki is a state level judoka

Round 1:




So there you go the boys from Borneo are coming!

Don't forget the Ultimate Fightnight (Now Ultimate Beatdown) started out as a gym based event (in Johor) and now is in a bigger venue attracting up to 400 fans.

This is just the beginning for MMA competitions in Borneo and we wish the fighters over there all the best.

To find out much, much more about the Borneo MMA scene and also details of the many MMA gyms please check out Julian Lee's MMA Blog HERE

* If you run an MMA Gym in Malaysia and would like to be featured on our Video Walk Through series please click this link and follow the instructions. It's free advertising so why wouldn't you?